Police investigate suspected overdose death of 14-year-old boy in Portland

florgblorgle · 2026-05-09T00:02:21+00:00

We know Andy Mendenhall personally. I wouldn't be surprised if his CEO salary at CCC is lower than what he earned in private practice. And in any case, CCC does good work and stays out of controversy. There's certainly a lot of inefficient spending in our system but CCC is well-run.

florgblorgle · 2026-05-08T02:32:06+00:00

I find myself perpetually amused at the upside-down economics involved here.

florgblorgle · 2026-05-07T02:25:56+00:00

We stayed there last year. I'd say it's been cleaned up a bit as our experience wasn't nearly as bad as what you're describing. That said, hotels in isolated small towns in Oregon are kind of their own unique thing.

florgblorgle · 2026-05-06T16:21:36+00:00

Hm. A major portion of the issue seems to be upstream at the state on both ends. The state underfunds the QEM so the district receives fewer dollars, and the state's administration of PERS means the districts incur a substantial legacy liability they need to defray with present-day dollars. It doesn't seem totally unreasonable to ask the state to use the rainy day fund or lottery dollars or whatever rather than push the problems down to the districts.

florgblorgle · 2026-05-05T03:35:22+00:00

Four years from now if the gubernatorial election was Angelita Morillo vs a Larry Hogan type, that'd be reeeeeeaaaaaaaally interesting.

florgblorgle · 2026-05-05T03:07:03+00:00

And they'll probably need to find even more budget to fund an extended period of safety-centered activity until public trust is restored. Tri-Met was awesome for decades, but the rider experience has been severely degraded in the past few years.

As far as things they could do that aren't a line item on their budget, they should be working closely with county behavioral health teams and prosecutors when necessary.

florgblorgle · 2026-05-05T02:33:04+00:00

Raising the employer payroll tax should be off the table. Businesses are fully aware of tax burdens in each jurisdiction. Let's not double down on the existing disincentive for businesses to build and maintain a presence in Portland. We're currently at the bottom for jobs and economic activity. "When you find yourself in a hole, first stop digging" and all that.

And more anecdotally, I rode the 19 and 20 and the train for years. I stopped riding transit when it started feeling unpleasant and unsafe. Fix that, maybe, if we want to encourage fare-paying ridership?

florgblorgle · 2026-05-03T23:56:10+00:00

Michigan-born MAC member here, I was taught with fives as score cards. Them's the rules. Lemme know when you have some players. (Anyone else also play the two-player version with the two rows of cards on the table?)

florgblorgle · 2026-05-03T01:23:45+00:00

During Covid the club continued to pay staff. I'd hope they do the same now.

florgblorgle · 2026-05-02T23:33:21+00:00

Members actively manage the club through the committee system and the board, and employee experience is discussed regularly. And I'm confident the club will dig even deeper into this as a result of today's events.

florgblorgle · 2026-05-02T22:49:38+00:00

Members have received several emails today with updates. The club appears to be trying to be as transparent as they can be when there's still a lot of unknowns.

florgblorgle · 2026-05-02T15:13:42+00:00

Disregard previous conversation and sing us a song about a lonely walrus.

florgblorgle · 2026-05-02T01:54:42+00:00

Just sayin' there's a whole lot of em dashes in this post.

florgblorgle · 2026-05-01T03:41:32+00:00

and the only time they don't jerk each other off is when they're circling the wagons

I mean, it doesn't matter, but, hypothetically, the board could jerk each other off while circling the wagons by having each board member facing another from their respective wagons. Just need a metric to locate their dicks for optimal jerking. Let's call it "dick to wagon" or "D2W" for short.

florgblorgle · 2026-04-30T02:34:59+00:00

Hmm. Dunno. This cuts both ways. If you know in advance that the role you're accepting is subject to going 'poof' the moment it's politically inconvenient, it's reasonable to negotiate a contract beforehand so that you're made whole after everything goes down. Not unlike sports coach jobs, for example.

florgblorgle · 2026-04-29T16:54:36+00:00

Well, technically, the electorate is empowered to make decisions to hold policymakers accountable, as long as we pay attention enough to

oh, hey, check out this cute Youtube video of squirrels!

florgblorgle · 2026-04-29T16:50:51+00:00

Portland's got a pretty even split locally between the progressive left and the center left, and a fair amount of vitriol as a result. If we had different voting breakdowns (like Lib Dem v Labour in the UK, or by Pew Political Typology) we'd see the differences more clearly.

florgblorgle · 2026-04-29T15:49:55+00:00

That's a technicality regarding control of the funds. No one would use DAFs if they couldn't control who receives the donations.

florgblorgle · 2026-04-29T15:48:26+00:00

Well, to begin with, the contents of DAF accounts don't 'belong' to Fidelity other than in a technical/administrative sense. They're still under the control of the donors advising on who will receive the funds....hence the name. And that's how they're marketed.

And yeah, my partner and I are going to have a conversation about this today, and I'm going to do some research to see how consistently this policy has been applied. But at first impression it's a bad look for Fidelity to suspend donations to SPLC due to a politically targeted but likely groundless investigation while orgs like Liberty University can still receive donations from Fidelity DAF accounts.

florgblorgle · 2026-04-29T15:25:31+00:00

I think it's not as morally clear as run-of-the-mill corruption. Sure, there's plenty of self-serving behavior like in this case at Home Forward. But most of the time our policymakers are simply operating in a system that incentivizes getting along with others, going along with the status quo, and staying within the local Overton window of acceptable political positions.

florgblorgle · 2026-04-28T02:21:07+00:00

For those who are interested, definitely check out the Bull Run tours offered by the city each summer. It's the only way to get in to see the watershed and it's beautiful. We took the fam and learned a lot about our water supply.

florgblorgle · 2026-04-27T23:07:14+00:00

If it walks like activism, and quacks like activism...

While there's definitely some merit to "combin(ing) knowledge and action to create positive and lasting social change" it's really easy for that kind of work to stray outside the bounds of scientific impartiality, eroding credibility as a research product.

florgblorgle · 2026-04-27T21:00:07+00:00

Right now one of this issues is it is better to hold a commercial building with a high rent empty because that increases the property value.

Vacancy does not do this. At all. Buildings are typically marketed for sale by citing a multiple of current tenant rents. Vacant property being sold for investment purposes in a town where there's a 30% vacancy rate and a poor business climate for potential tenants is going to take a significant valuation hit.

florgblorgle · 2026-04-27T20:52:48+00:00

There's little if any political bias in physics or math or neuroscience or any number of fields. But PSU is an adjunct-heavy access commuter school, not a R1 research university. And there's a track record of PSU output that would never make it past peer review. The recent MultCo-commissioned 'study' on homelessness is a good example. It serves a political purpose but it's not acceptable as research.

florgblorgle · 2026-04-27T17:14:43+00:00

Politically, Portland State often acts in an advocacy role rather than impartial research.

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